who is in control | private

"Let's walk and do more training," she said with eagerness, ignoring the fact that she was indeed starting to tire. This was more important. Everything that she was learning would be powerful tools that she could use to help her clan. And she was truly enjoying every moment with Sundance and learning under her gentle guidance.

Oh, that was a good plan - The kitten felt her paws tingle with excitement as the medic explained what it was they would be doing, verdant gaze lighting up at the realization that they would practice finding and gathering herbs as well. Her ears strained a bit to make sense of what was said as the kitsune spoke with a mouthful of basket, and she was admittedly quite relieved when she managed to worm her way through it so it rested on her neck instead. Tail flicking, the grey-and-white tabby would quickly pad after the other, ready to learn some more. "What are we looking for first?" She queried as they walked.

Billie blinked thoughtfully - Sticks and cobwebs? She knew that cobwebs were used to stop bleeding but. . . "What do we use sticks for?" Queried the small child as she ventured off a bit, looking about to find some that fit her description. Poking below a tree, she hoped she could find some branches that had snapped off at some point. As she came close to the trunk, she would come face-to-face with a spider web. The eight-legged creature was still there, hanging about in the middle of his home, so she puffed on him to blow him away. Once he was gone, she raised a single white paw to gather the silky substance, returning it to Sundance next.

"Oh."

Billie was silent for a long while after that, focusing on gathering sticks- Which seemed to have a multitude of purposes. That was a lot to absorb, the kit supposing that it made sense that they could be used for casts and reinforcing walls. They were strong and straight. Picking up a medium sized stick carefully, she would drop it into Sundance's basket, still focused on the concept of 'giving birth.' Finally, she would ask, "Why do. . . Uh, why do moms eat sticks when they give birth?"

Billie nodded, eyes peeled for more sticks, quietly mulling over what Sundance had told her. She supposed that it was good to know that you couldn't give mothers poppy seeds- That was something that she would never forget. But, she still didn't understand the stick thing, though she supposed she wouldn't press the subject any further. Picking up another two sticks, she placed them in the basket and then asked wearily, "Do poppy seeds harm anyone else, or just mothers?" That was, she thought, important to know. Venturing closer to another tree, she sifted through a pile of twigs, hoping to find another stick of appropriate size.

"Okay," she agreed repeating, "Four poppy seeds to help with pain, but not for mothers."

That seemed simple enough to remember. She had heard of poppy before and knew them as a beautiful flower, but she wasn't sure she had seen their seeds before. Did you have to dig them out of the dirt, or did you get them out of the flower somehow? The child considered this and finally asked, "How do you find the seeds, by the way?"

The grey furred kitten would duck her head in acknowledgement, repeating quietly to herself, "Shake them out." That seemed simple enough and she would make sure to gather some of the flowers when she got back home. Tilting her head as her mentor figure began picking up dandelions, she would crinkle her nose a little - She knew of that flower, it grew everywhere! Billie hadn't expected that it would have medicinal properties as well. "What are those used for?" She would query softly, bending to pull one of the yellow petaled plants out of the ground as well.

Dandelion for bee stings, who knew? That was an outrageously common flower and Billie knew it would be easy to have plenty of them in-stock. Nodding along she would drop the yellow flower into Sundance's basket. "Okay," she meowed in agreement. "I won't forget that!" There was a question on her mind now, a new one not directly related to herbs and training. Regarding the kitsune with a curious expression she would tilt her head and inquire, "When did you start learning. . . Well, all of this? You seem to know. . ." Billie Jean would pause to choose her next word, which came breathlessly. "Everything."

"I'm sorry," the child responded, feeling a rush of sympathy for the medic trainee. Her eyes would lower, their verdant depths brimming with solicitude. Billie Jean couldn't imagine coming from such a bad background — She loved her family dearly, and although her brother, Eli, wasn't always kind to her, she knew that she was well looked after by her mother. In truth, the idea of a tormented childhood was quite foreign to her, and she was at a loss for words as she tried to imagine Sundance, feeling alone in the world and afraid, with only her book of herblore to take solace in. "I am glad that you were able to leave them, and that you found a home in Blizzardclan." That seemed like the right thing to say, as it was what she felt was true in her heart.

The grey kit hesitated for a moment, feeling badly for bringing up Sundance's history with healing. Her head somewhat low, she would nod and slink back towards the trees, looking for spiders in the low hanging branches. Billie Jean had not known that life could be awful for children, and she was still stunned by all that the medic trainee had revealed, her heart wrenching sympathetically. Finding another web, she would once more blow away the eight-legged creature and wrap her paw carefully through the precious substance, carrying it back to her mentor-figure on three legs. "Here," she meowed, very quiet.